The Sage of the Wind
by Roflmywaffle
Summary: Depressed and alone, Naruto Uzamaki is a 6 year old orphan living in Konoha. As he was walking down the street one day he bumps into a man who inspires him to be the best he can be. With the will of fire burning brightly in his eyes, will Naruto descend to greatness? Strong/Relatively Smart Naruto. NaruSaku. M for Violence and Language.
1. Chapter 1 - The Will of Fire

First off I'd like to apologize in advance as this is my first story and is also typed on my iPod. Anyways I'll try to update it as I get the time. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

Key:

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Tailed Beasts****/Inner-Sakura Talking"**

**'Tailed Beasts/Inner-Sakura Thinking'**

_Flashbacks_

Enjoy!

* * *

**Introduction Arc: Chapter 1 - The Will of Fire**

He walked down the busy street, head down, attempting to not get knocked over by those who would 'accidentally' run into him. His blonde hair was as bright as the sunny day. His attitude on the other hand was not. He was depressed. But who wouldn't be living the life he's lived so far, especially with only being six years old. Having no family, constantly being beaten and all the hate filled glares.

He continued to walk aimlessly down the street until a figure all of the sudden was looming over him.

'Here we go again...' thought the child as he scrunched up waiting for the pain to hit. Oddly enough it never did. Instead a hand came to rest on his shoulder.

"Naruto Uzamaki you have been summoned by the Hokage," spoke the figure. Naruto only nodded in response. As the figure turned to leave he spoke up once more. "Naruto, do you enjoy those stares you get?"

"No..." Naruto answered in a monotone voice.

"Then change that!" the figure spoke loudly causing Naruto's focus to go from the ground back to the figure. "Work hard and never give up! If you decide to do something, go through with it! If you do this you'll eventually gain their respect." The figure paused before speaking one last time. "And smile kid, it's good for you." Then the figure burst into smoke.

Naruto on the other hand stood there in shock. Someone cared? Someone was trying to help? After a couple more seconds of pondering what just happened, the blonde snapped out of his gaze with a newly lit fire burning in his eyes.

* * *

Knock, knock

"Enter!"

The door flew open. "Hey Ojii-San!" Naruto gleefully spoke with a newly trademarked foxy grin but yet filled with determination. "So what'd you need to speak to me about gramps?"

The names didn't faze the professor at all. He was thrilled his surrogate grandson was all so suddenly so happy. "Just wanted to check up on you as all. So how are you doing?"

"Better than ever Dattebayo!"

The old man chuckled. 'He is truly your son Kushina.' "Why so?"

"Because I've decided that I'm gonna become the best Hokage this village has ever seen." The boy energetically shouted back.

"Oh really now? And how do you plan on doing that?" The old man asked.

"I'll do it by never giving up! I'll protect the village and its people with my life! I never go back on my word, that's my nindo Dattebayo!" The boy shouted again.

"Well I guess I should sign you up for the academy then. Sound good to you?"

"Of course!"

"Fantastic! Well here's the room number, class starts at 8 AM tomorrow morning."

"Thanks Ojii-San!"

"Oh an Naruto. If you EVER need ANYTHING don't be afraid to come to me." Naruto nodded energetically in response. "Now how about we go get some ramen?"

"You're the best Ojii-San, Dattebayo!" The boy once again shouted. The old man chuckled in return. He knew just by looking at the boy that he'd be one of the most important figures in the future to come and he couldn't be any more correct.

* * *

AN: Again I'd like to apologize in advanced for any mistakes I've made, I'm new to writing and am doing it as a hobby. Anyways sorry this chapter and the next few are short but there really just introduction to the story and I also dislike putting huge time skips in one chapter(even though it will happen anyways). Chapter 5 is where my chapters will start really increasing in size(currently in the midst of typing chapter 5 at this time) but chapter five seems like it'll be a big leap in size from all the previous chapters.


	2. Chapter 2 - Imposter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

A/N: I'd like to apologize for the blocky text, the post messed up for some reason.

Hey I'm back with another short chapter, as I said before the chapters will get bigger starting with chapter 4 or 5.

dbzgtfan2004, I guess I should tell you I have two other NaruSaku stories that I'm working on (Haven't published them yet). Although one of them has a kind of evil plot twist to it. I'll publish them later on when I've gotten further on this story.

Guest, Thanks for the good point! I'll definitely make him have a very negative opinion of the civilian population. His opinion of his fellow shinobi will also be on the slightly negative side but he will be concealing those emotions more, especially when it comes to fighting against a common foe. He will be very cunning when it comes to these situations but I won't say too much more.

XxAshishxX, I'll update as soon as possible but I'm also currently busy with a couple things for the next 5 to 6 days.

otaku619, Thanks! The typing is definitely the worst part.

Key:

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Tailed Beasts****/Inner-Sakura Talking"**

**'Tailed Beasts/Inner-Sakura Thinking'**

_Flashbacks_

Enjoy!

* * *

**Introduction Arc: Chapter 2 - Imposter!**

(2 Year Timeskip)

After two years of hard work, Naruto has succeeded in becoming a genin at the age of 8. Through intense training, dreadful studying and some snooping in the Hokage's library he is equipped with a large and versatile set of techniques. We currently find said blonde wandering home from a delicious meal at Ichiraku's.

'Mmm, I don't see why Iruka-sensei is trying to tell me to stop eating so much Ichiraku's, it tastes so good. Besides, Old Man Teuchi wouldn't let me eat that many bowls if they weren't healthy for me. Right?' Naruto continued to ponder the subject before hearing a slight commotion.

"Find him!" he heard one person yell. "It was only a matter of time before the demon acted up and tried to gain more power!" yelled another.

'Oh no, they're after me again. What did I do? Did they find out about me looking through the genin section books in the library before I was a genin.' An expression of fear spread across his as he jumped into a tree to hide.

A few seconds later a few chūnin passed by. Naruto sighed in relief as they passed by.

"NAAAARUUUTOOOO!" screamed a familiar voice from behind him. 'Dammit! I've been found! I'll just try to play this as if I've got no idea of what he's talking about.' he thought as he turned around to see Iruka. He then put on his best poker face, awaiting the questioning to come. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" Iruka reprimanded.

Naruto stared at him for a second before getting on his knees, "I'm sorry Iruka-sensei! I'm sooo sorry! I didn't mean to take them! I just wanted to learn!" he pleaded.

Iruka sweatdropped at the last comment, "Really... That's your excuse?! Since when do you actually want to learn?! And even more than that, what made you think it was a great idea to steal an S-Rank scroll TO LEARN?! " he yelled.

Naruto was now more than confused. 'S-Rank? Scroll? What?' he thought. "Wait one second Iruka-sensei. First off, since when did reading genin level things be considered S-Rank to an academy student? Secondly, they were books, not scrolls..." he spoke, still very much confused.

Now it was Iruka's turn to look lost. His expression hardened, "Nice try Naruto. Trying to trick me I see. Just hand over the Scroll of Sealing and I'll make sure your punishment isn't too harsh." he said sternly.

"Scroll of Sealing? Why would I have that? Hokage-sama already taught me some of the jutsu off of there that he thought I could use without killing myself." Naruto paused as he saw someone sprinting across the forest behind Iruka. It appeared to be a clone of himself. He then realized another thing, he had the Scroll of Sealing on his back!

Naruto glanced quickly at Iruka before taking off after the imposter. On the other hand Iruka thought he was trying to get away and chased after Naruto. As Naruto slowly caught up to his imposter, Iruka saw it too. ' He must have made a clone to grab the scroll. Dammit Naruto! Why are you doing this, you had so much potential!' thought Iruka. He then pulled out a kunai and threw it at the 'clone'.

Sensing the incoming kunai, the imposter/clone turned around in midair and blocked the kunai before planting his feet on a tree behind him and launching towards the real Naruto and Iruka. He then launched a kick at Naruto, which landed right in his gut, sending him flying back into Iruka. The fake Naruto then turned and continued making his escape.

Naruto got up and helped Iruka up before again chasing after the imposter. Iruka followed but now was rather confused. 'Why would his own clone kick him...' he thought briefly before it dawned on him, 'Henge!' "Naruto, who is that?" he asked.

Naruto looked back as they were once again closing in on him, "I have no clue but let's find out!" he said with determination as he launched at the imposter.

As he got closer, the fake once again turned around but this time got into defensive stance. Naruto quickly closed the space between them and threw a punch at his head, which the imposter caught. Naruto then attempted to knee him in the gut but the fake used his other hand to redirect Naruto's knee away from him. The imposter them retaliated by slamming his head into Naruto's causing Naruto to stumble backwards. He then again delivered a kick to Naruto's gut sending him flying off the branch and towards the ground.

The imposter then pulled fuma shuriken off of his back and readied it. "Now... DIIIEEE! he screamed, launching the shuriken at the disoriented Naruto on the forest floor. Iruka seeing this jumped over Naruto and took the shuriken in the back.

Naruto snapped out of his previous state and realized what had happened. He was stunned, and only stared at Iruka. Iruka removed the shuriken from his back before falling beside Naruto and began coughing up blood. Their eyes then wandered to the figure above who had now dropped the henge to reveal himself to be none other than Mizuki, Iruka's assistant at the academy.

"Why..." Iruka said still coughing up blood.

Mizuki began to maniacally laugh before putting on an expression of near insanity and bloodlust. "Why not Iruka?! After all you should understand more than anyone, what my motives were! The demon did kill your parents right?" he asked, Naruto looked on horrified. "Naruto, do you know why everyone hates you?" Mizuki asked darkly.

"NOOO! You can't! Naruto, don't listen!" screamed Iruka. Naruto just sat as still as a statue.

"It's because on the night the Kyūbi attacked, the yondaime sealed it into you! YOU'RE THE DAMNED DEMON FOX!" he said as he again laughed maniacally.

Naruto was about to get up and run but he then remembered the words of the stranger from two tears ago. "Hehe" he laughed. Iruka stared at him, hoping Naruto wasn't going insane. "Mizuki-teme... You clearly don't know the difference between the jailer and it's prisoner do you... You know..." he paused and looked up, eyes flashing red off and on in rage, "I really hate people like you! And if I actually was the nine tailed fox, I'd rip you to shreds right now! But then you wouldn't get what you deserved would you?" he spoke with venom in a slightly demonic voice.

Naruto stood up and looked directly into Mizuki's eyes, "Stop cowering in your tree and come fight me!" Naruto demanded. Mizuki only put on a cocky grin and jumped down ten feet in front of Naruto.

"How does it feel Naruto? To know that everyone hates you because you're the demon fox?" snarled Mizuki. Naruto just glared at the man. Mizuki then chuckled, "Why am I even asking a question that you don't even deserve to answer. DIIIIEEE DEMON!." The man lunged forwards through the clearing.

'Hehe, Mizuki-teme, think again' thought Naruto. He then side stepped and stuck his foot out tripping Mizuki. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The clones then rushed forwards and hit him multiple times across his upper body and head causing him to become disoriented enough to be pinned down to the ground. Naruto then progressed through various seals. "This will finish it! Wind Release: Wind Palm!" He then charged forward, his palm covered in spiraling wind chakra.

As he was about to make contact a hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed his wrist. Naruto was briefly stunned before looking to see the person was. There stood a man with spiky white hair, an oil forehead protector, red marks under his eyes, and red clothing. "Let's not injure the traitor too badly kid. We need to interrogate him first. After all, I doubt he's working for himself." Mizuki gulped before a ANBU squad jumped down beside the new figure. "Anyways, Naruto we have places to be, they'll handle the rest of this situation."

Without giving Naruto room to ask questions, the man grabbed him and shushined them out of the forest and into the village.

* * *

"Hey! Let go!" screamed Naruto. "Who are you?" he questioned irritably.

"I am your godfather, my name is Jiraiya." said the man.

"And your also being unusually serious for once." spoke a voice from behind. It was the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama!" "Sensei!"

'I'm still not used to Naruto being like this... 8 years old, already a genin, one of the most intelligent of his generation and respectful. That last one still gets me the most...' thought the professor as he continued approaching them.

"Well Naruto, me and Jiraiya have an offer for you. If you wish, we'll allow you to go on a training trip with him for four years where then you'll return and have the ability to be with a team your age or remain here and be by far the youngest genin." Spoke the old man.

"I don't know... I barely even know the guy and he claims to be my godfather. If that's the case I don't see a reason I should if he hasn't been here for the past 8 years of my life to take care of me." Both the Hokage and Jiraiya opened there mouths to speak but Naruto continued, "but, I'll give you ONE chance to make it up... While I'm furious that you're just now coming to help, your the only family I seem to have." Naruto said exasperating. "Just one request though, if you're my godfather, you must know who my parents were, can you at least tell me?" Naruto asked with a hopeful voice.

* * *

A/N: Aaaand slight cliffhanger? Meh not really, we already know who it is. Anyways hope you enjoyed this small chapter. Sorry if Naruto was too forgiving towards Jiraiya. He only trusts him because he is the only link he knows of to his parents.

"Wind Release: Air Palm" - A C-Rank technique that lightly coats the palm with wind chakra. When it makes contact with it's target it lightly cuts the impact point will slowly destroying the chakra at the contact point. After making contact with it's target it releases a small amount of air pressure that knocks the target back slightly.

I'll also begin posting stats for characters and updating when needed. It will be on a 16 point scale. I'll add more to a character that possess that certain skill such as Kenjutsu.

Naruto Uzamaki: Genin.

Age: 8

Speed: 6.5

Stamina: 11

Strength: 5

Chakra Reserves: 13.5

Chakra Control: 3

Intelligence: 4

Taijutsu: 4

Ninjutsu: 7

Genjutsu: 0

Fuinjutsu: 0

Mizuki: Chūnin.

Age: 23

Speed: 6

Stamina: 8

Strength: 8

Chakra Reserves: 7.5

Chakra Control: 8

Intelligence: 7

Taijutsu: 6.5

Ninjutsu: 5

Genjutsu: 3

Fuinjutsu: 0

Until then!


	3. Chapter 3 - Homecoming

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

I figured I'd publish this chapter on my computer so I could organize and type it faster. I'll be revising and updating the previous two chapters to be more organized too!

Meh! Another time skip, how repulsive! Anyways hey guys I'm back with the next chapter. I've tried to lengthen this one out but it's going to be around the same size as the previous chapter but they will be getting larger as the story progresses.

Key:

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Tailed Beasts****/Inner-Sakura Talking"**

**'Tailed Beasts/Inner-Sakura Thinking'**

_Flashbacks_

Well here it is, Enjoy!

* * *

**Introduction Arc: Chapter 3 – Homecoming**

(4 Year Timeskip)

A boy and man were walking through the woods at a steady pace. The boy had blonde spiky hair and bright cerulean eyes. He wore a black cloak with a red Uzamaki symbol in the center of the back and orange flames on the bottom edge, black ANBU pants, a black shirt with an orange symbol for Konoha on the front and standard ninja sandals.

"Oi ero-sennin, up for a challenge?" asked Naruto.

The sage sighed then responded. "Sure but if I win you have to call me, hm... Jiraiya. The great! The Gallant! The Heroic! The, Oof!"

Naruto looked down smugly at his master who was currently lying on the ground. "Maybe The Clumsy too eh?" he suggested before stepping over him and continuing walking.

Jiraiya soon caught up. "Alright fine it'll be anything but ero-sennin. So what's the challenge?"

"First if I win you owe me all the money you used for uh entertainment at the brothels. Alright the challenge is..." he paused. "FIRST ONE TO KONOHA WINS!" he shouted while taking off.

Jiraiya quickly went through many handsigns. "Summoning Jutsu!" and with that Gamabunta appeared.

"This better be good ero-sennin." he grumpily said. Jiraiya sweatdropped before getting to business.

"Get me to Konoha as fast as you can!" he shouted.

Gamabunta got a little more serious. "Why, is it under attack?"

"No, worse!"

"No... There's only one thing. You're broke and Naruto made a bet where you will owe him all the money you "borrowed." Well I just realized I have an.. uhm.. appointment! Yes an appointment. Goodluck. Ero-sennin." Gamabunta then poofed out of existence.

"Shit, I guess I better start running. Naruto wait up! You cheated and hey I didn't know that wallet in your backpack was yours! It could have been anybody's!"

* * *

"Well ero-sennin, you lost. And I already know your dirt poor due to your "research" so I'll let it slide." Naruto stretched and yawned. "Whew! It's nice to be home. Everyone your future Hokage has returned!" he shouted.

Jiraiya shook his head at his shenanigans. "Come on Naruto let's go see the Hokage."

"No need, I'm right here" spoke a voice from behind.

"You really are a stalker sensei... Do I even need to summarize our trip and how well Naruto has progressed or did you happen to follow us all around then too?" questioned Jiraiya sarcastically.

Naruto simply smacked Jiraiya upside the head. "You're just as bad if not worse ero-sennin."

"Ero-sennin eh? I kinda like that." By now Jiraiya looked like he was ready to curl up and cry. "So Ero-Sennin, how about you give me the report later and go relax for a day. I'd give you more days but I've got an itching feeling those brothels you visited were pretty, relaxing... Naruto, you get the next two weeks off. Teams aren't picked until then and I know you worked your hardest. Jiraiya I want that report in two days!" the Hokage finished before poofing away.

'Damn I only have tomorrow off and I have to write a report about a 4 year trip in under 2 days... I get the feeling I'm not going to be relaxing at all...'

"Well ero-sennin, good luck with those reports!" said Naruto before running off.

Jiraiya's hand was cringing in pain when he finished the report. It turned out it was actually dislocated but the Hokage didn't spare him any time to recover.

* * *

-With Naruto-

Naruto walked back into his apartment, he really didn't need a break from his training, but he decided he'd have lunch before taking a small nap to recover from his travels. After that was done he went back out to find a training ground that was open. He of course eventually stumbled across one which was a large open grass field surrounded by trees with a pond on one side of it.

'Perfect! Now let's begin!' he thought before forming a seal. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" and with that five shadow clones appeared. They all looked at one another before looking at him and coming to a silent agreement. 'Let's beat him this time!' and so they charged at him. Naruto just sighed at their all to direct approach before straightening his posture and sticking his left arm out and planted his right leg behind him firmly on the ground.

The first clone that made it to him went for a direct approach, a punch straight for the face. Naruto pivoted to his left on his right foot, easily avoiding the punch. Before he had time to retaliate he noticed another clone above him with his leg raised, ready to deliver a painful kick to the head. Naruto narrowly avoided the kick by jumping backwards and out of harm's way.

"Now I've got you!" screamed a clone behind him. Naruto jumped up into the air to avoid the legs that swept under him trying to make him loose his footing. 'Do I seriously alert my opponents to when I'm about to attack…' Naruto thought as he sighed.

He then sensed a figure above him and looked up in time to see a clone throw a shuriken and then go through multiple hand seals. "Now I've got you! Multi-Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!" The shuriken went from being one to a couple hundred shuriken flying at him. 'Shit! I've got to think fast, I can't avoid this I'm still suspended in air!' he thought. He then formed a few handsigns, "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" shooting a pulse of air at the shurikens, scattering them across the training ground.

As he started to descend back towards the ground he realized a clone was missing. 'Underground!' He then looked down to see the last clone burst from the ground, his palm covered in wind chakra. Naruto quickly performed the same jutsu.

"Wind Release: Wind Palm!" they said as they collided. The resulting explosion of air pressure not only sent them both flying in opposite directions but also destroyed the other clones. When the last remaining clone and Naruto recovered, they smirked before charging at one another. They began the engagement throwing fists at any openings they thought they could hit, only to be blocked and countered. Finally they both pulled out kunais and began clashing, with the sound of metal resonating throughout the training field. After a few minutes of their struggle for dominance they simultaneously decided that the spar needed to end and both went for the others neck.

Naruto smirked at the situation, "Draw" he spoke as he looked between the kunai at his neck and the one at the clone's. The clone smirked before cancelling itself. Naruto sighed in content at his warm up spar. 'Now to just train chakra control for a while before I go visit the Hokage.'

* * *

-Later that day at the Hokage Tower-

*Knock, Knock*

"Enter!" spoke a firm voice from inside.

Naruto walked in to see the old Hokage working on the same thing as always, paperwork. He held back a chuckle and walked into the office. The Hokage looked up and smiled at the person as he recognized who it is. "Naruto! What can I do for you? Are you here to report some bad behavior from Jiraiya? I can most definitely take of it if that's the case!" he inquired.

Naruto laughed and shook his head, "While Jiraiya was rather terrible when it came to brothels and other 'research', I already got my revenge." Naruto then let out a devious laugh before quickly becoming serious again. "Anyways I'm here to see if you can finally answer my question I asked before I left." The Hokage's previous smile turned extremely serious, he really had been dreading this moment.

* * *

-Flashback-

(4 years ago, right after defeating Mizuki)

_"Hey! Let go!" screamed Naruto. "Who are you?" he questioned irritably._

_"I am your godfather, my name is Jiraiya." said the man._

_"And your also being unusually serious for once." spoke a voice from behind. It was the Hokage._

_"Hokage-sama!" "Sensei!"_

_'I'm still not used to Naruto being like this... 8 years old, already a genin, one of the most intelligent of his generation and respectful. That last one still gets me the most...' thought the professor as he continued approaching them._

_"Well Naruto, me and Jiraiya have an offer for you. If you wish, we'll allow you to go on a training trip with him for four years where then you'll return and have the ability to be with a team your age or remain here and be by far the youngest genin." Spoke the old man._

_"I don't know... I barely even know the guy and he claims to be my godfather. If that's the case I don't see a reason I should if he hasn't been here for the past 8 years of my life to take care of me." Both the Hokage and Jiraiya opened their mouths to speak but Naruto continued, "but, I'll give you ONE chance to make it up... While I'm furious that you're just now coming to help, you're the only family I seem to have." Naruto said exasperating. "Just one request though, if you're my godfather, you must know who my parents were, can you at least tell me?" Naruto asked with a hopeful voice._

_Jiraiya and the Hokage looked at one another before sighing. "Naruto," Jiraiya spoke up, "We both know who it is and it's not safe to tell you now, please try to understand."_

_Naruto grew aggravated, "Soooo…. Why should I go on a training trip with someone for FOUR YEARS if he can't even grace with the knowledge of who my parents are! Especially since you claim to be my 'GODFATHER,' or were you lying?!" he yelled._

_Jiraiya's expression grew gravely serious, "Naruto, it's for your own protection. How about this I'll tell you a little about them and eventually once Hokage-sama thinks your strong enough to know it, he'll tell you. Sound like a deal?" Naruto sighed, this was better than nothing and then nodded his head in agreement. _

_"Well your father was one of the most deadly ninja of his time, known throughout the ninja world as a dangerous adversary. But his great power brought him numerous enemies much stronger than you can currently handle. That's why you can't know for now. Now, your mother. She was a beautiful young woman but…" Jiraiya stopped to shiver for a second, "Pissing her off was more scary then facing the Kyubi itself… Anyways I'll let you know one more thing about her. She was the previous jinchuuriki of the Kyubi."_

_Naruto took in all the information he had received while Jiraiya and the Hokage hoped that would be enough for the time being. They almost jumped for joy when he looked at them with a small smirk, "Thanks for at least telling me something," he then turned serious and focused on the hokage. "But you better be ready to tell me when I get back, because when I do, I'll be more than strong enough to defend myself against anybody who would try to attack me."_

-Flashback End-

* * *

"Naruto, I still need to test your strength. In two weeks, you'll get your sensei and you and your teammates will be tested by him. I'll observe you then and if I do indeed deem you worthy, I'll tell you about your parents." The Hokage said.

"Be ready." Naruto said with determination as he left the Hokage's office.

The Hokage sighed, 'I will be, I just hope you can handle the truth.'

* * *

A/N: And there we go! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, Naruto's question will be answered soon but how will he react? Anyways all the details of what went on during his training trip will be answered, just not all at once(because that's way too much to put into once chapter, unless I make that chapter much bigger than one like this one.) Sakura will come in next chapter, but she'll start off disliking Naruto, who still has a crush on her but also is annoyed with her constant obsession over Sasuke and seemingly endless hatred towards himself.

Multi-Shadow Shuriken Jutsu – B-Rank due to its deadly potential. Basically it clones the target weapon into a desired number of that weapon, of course the higher number of clones the more chakra it costs.

Wind Release: Great Breakthrough – C-Rank Technique that scales depending on user or input of chakra. It's a pulse/gust of wind in one direction.

Naruto Uzamaki: Genin.

Age: 12

Speed: 8.5

Stealth: 8 -NEW

Stamina: 13.5

Strength: 8.5

Chakra Reserves: 13.5

Chakra Control: 5.5

Intelligence: 7.5

Taijutsu: 8

Ninjutsu: 10.5

Genjutsu: 1

Fuinjutsu: 3

Kenjutsu: 4.5 – NEW

Update will come when I get the chance to polish up Chapter 4 and post it!


	4. Chapter 4 - Team 7

Hey everyone, sorry for the wait I've been busy. Anyways here is chapter four, it's the longest chapter by far. From now I plan on all my chapters being this long.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

Key:

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Tailed Beasts/Inner-Sakura Talking"**

**'Tailed Beasts/Inner-Sakura Thinking'**

_Flashbacks_

Enjoy!

* * *

**Introduction Arc: Chapter 4 - Team 7**

"Sasuke-kun! Can I sit next to you?" asked a pink haired girl.

"Shut up forehead! Sasuke-kun wants to sit next to me right?" screeched a blonde hair girl.

"Hn" grunted a brooding Sasuke. 'Why do I have to be cursed with two annoyances...'

At that moment Naruto walked through the door and spoke up. "Is this the classroom for team selection?" Everybody turned their heads toward the new voice.

"Yeah, who are you?" responded Kiba.

"Just because I was in the academy for only two years doesn't give you the right to forget me." Naruto said while sweatdropping.

"Dobe?" asked an astonished Uchiha.

"What's up Sasuke?" Naruto responded, ignoring the name.

"Hn"

"How troublesome" (guess who).

"W-welcome bb-back N-Naruto-kun." stuttered Hinata.

"Why are you here? I thought you dropped out Baka," Sakura said coldly.

"Haha no I graduated 4 years ago. I just decided to wait to be put on a team until my generation graduated." he responded smiling sheepishly.

"So you did NOTHING for 4 years? You really are dumb..." Sakura criticized.

"And that's where you're wrong Sakura-chan. I went on a training trip for four years." Naruto happily replied, ignoring the side comments.

"The person must have been pretty weak to take in someone of your standards." Scoffed Sasuke. Just as he finished Jiraiya walked in with Iruka and the class grew quiet.

"Alright everyone before we begin we have a new addition to the graduates as you may have learned. Also Lord Jiraiya of the sannin has a few words to say," spoke Iruka. There was a small rumble of gasps.

"Though you may be graduating, your lives are only going to get harder. You will often face challenges that you have never encountered before and opponents who are much strong than you. You must remember to never give up and that you also must be able to accept death in this field of duty. The future of our village lies in all of your hands and I know you'll do more than your best to take care of it." spoke Jiraiya.

"You bet Jiraiya-sensei, Dattebayo!" yelled Naruto. The other students looked to one other in a mix of confusion and disbelief.

"Naruto I expect the most from you. You can no longer be the loudmouthed brat that I took in 4 years ago to train. After all you're the student of a sannin so your ranting about becoming Hokage better be more than talk." lectured Jiraiya.

"Alright sensei!" Naruto replied. 'Why is he acting so serious, what did Hokage-Sama do to scare you?' Jiraiya waived to them all and shunshined out of the classroom.

"Alright everyone let's begin team assignment. Team 7, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzamaki. Your jonin sensei is Kakashi Hatake. Team 8..."(A/N: The teams didn't change from Canon)

* * *

(Lunch break)

After Iruka had finished everyone was dismissed. As Naruto was about to leave the academy, Jiraiya appeared in front of him.

"Naruto, I need to talk to you for a minute," he spoke in a serious tone. "I don't want you goofing off as much as you usually do when you train. If you wanna become Hokage you really need to work as hard as you can. That means taking training and missions seriously, learning better manners and you have to start reading some books, you're IQ is still questionable. Lastly, cut back on the ramen. You know why you're so short? You don't even have close to a relatively healthy diet."

"Naruto, although I'm not always very attentive and dedicated, I want you to know I expect more out of you than anyone else. Anyways I have to leave to go back to my spy network so promise me that you'll do as I ask?"

Naruto just smirked and made the nice guy pose, "Jiraiya-sensei, by the time you get back I'll be the best damn ninja you've ever laid eyes on, dattebayo!"

Jiraiya in turn ruffled his hair and once more spoke up, "Good, now I must go, I'll see you later Naruto." He then puffed into smoke.

Naruto then made his way to the market; after all he did need to healthier even if his stomach was demanding ramen.

* * *

As he was walking through the park on his way back to the academy, Naruto spotted Sakura sitting on a bench with a depressed expression.

"Oi, Sakura," he said as he approached her. She looked up, dazed at his serious demeanor. "Could you use some company?" no response, "Sakura, if there is something wrong I'm all ears. I'm also not leaving until I see that bright smile light up your face again."

At that she tried to fake a smile but the attempt was pitiful. Knowing he saw right through it she exasperated, "Why do you care, you idiot? It's none of you're business"

"Because I see you as a friend and I'm not going to just let one of my friends sit there and suffer from something if I can do anything about it." he replied. "So tell me, what's going on?

She sighed in defeat,"It's Sasuke-kun, he won't even talk to me." Naruto's expression twitched in annoyance before softening.

Even though it pained him to do it, Naruto spoke up, "Hehe, maybe you're trying too hard. Ease up on him and focus on other things more while taking the slightest interest in him. I think he doesn't like the amount of attention you give him. He seems to find it rather annoying, like how you usually find me annoying when I bother you too much. Once he notices you've backed a little he may consider becoming friends with you."

"Umm, thanks Naruto," she said before a smile finally dawned on her face causing Naruto to also smile.

"No need to thank me, that's what friends are for!" he said. "Anyways lunch break is over and we're probably going to be late even if we run."

Sakura paled slightly at this. 'Crap, what if our sensei arrives and only sees one of us there, surely they'll be consequences.'

Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled reassuringly at her as she looked up at him. "Sakura-chan, don't worry, we'll be on time." Before she could say anything he made a handseal and they disappeared in the wind.

Naruto and Sakura appeared just outside the academy. Sakura was dizzy and confused and Naruto could only help but laugh which in return got him a good knot on the head. "Baka! The least you could do was warn me about what you were going to do before you go and do that!"

Naruto smiled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck, "Hehe, sorry, I didn't think you'd agree to that anyways."

She sighed, "Couldn't you have at least made sure we were inside the classroom? And another thing, what was th..."

Naruto quickly cut her off, "Sakura-chan I hate to end the conversation but we do need to get to the classroom."

"Fine, but we'll get back to this" she said as they began walking.

* * *

"WHERE IS HE?!" screamed Sakura, whose patience had been shaven down to nothing.

"Hn" grunted the ever brooding Uchiha.

"Sakura, be patient he'll be here soon. Besides why don't use this time to be productive and do something like read, or brood because you wake up on the wrong side of the bed every day," Naruto said pointing the last words towards the other male in the room.

"Tsk, whatever Dobe. I could and will always be able to take you on no matter how much training you have done or will do." Sasuke replied.

As Naruto was about to reply the door opened and a jonin with gravity defying hair walked in.

"Your late!" screamed Sakura.

"Neh, Sakura-chan give Kakashi-sensei a break. He probably had to help an old woman or maybe a black cat crossed his path," Naruto said nonchalantly while leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed.

At this Kakashi sweat dropped, 'He knew my excuses before I said them. I guess the evaluation from both the Hokage and Jiraiya were right, he is a smart-ass...' Kakashi sighed, "My first impression of you, I hate you. Meet me up on the roof."

As they finally assembled Kakshi again spoke up. "Alright now that we're all here we'll start with introductions. Say your name, likes, dislikes and future goals. I'll go first. My name is Kakashi Hatake, I have many likes and few dislikes and I don't have any interest in telling you my future goals."

Naruto sighed while Sakura sweat dropped, 'All we learned is his name...'

"Alright you're turn blondie."

"My name is Naruto Uzamaki, I enjoy ramen, training, hanging out with friends and Jiraiya-sensei, my dislikes are the time it takes ramen to cook, brooding cocky bastards and Jiraiya's 'research.' My future goals are to find out who my parents were and to become Hokage."

"Alright emo-kun your next."

Sasuke's eyes twitched for just a second before he darkly began, "I am Sasuke Uchiha, I have no likes and many dislikes. I don't have a future goal but an ambition to kill a certain man."

'As I thought, you're still caught up in revenge.' Kakashi thought. "And finally you pinkie."

Sakura glared daggers at him before proceeding, "My name is Sakura Haruno, I like" she paused for a second and remembered what Naruto said, "I like anko dumplings, reading and my friends, I dislike bullies and those who are late and my goal is to be a strong medical-nin so I can support my team."

"Alright well that wraps that up, I'll see you tomorrow morning at 7:00 in the morning for the real test. Oh and don't eat anything." said Kakashi before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"What?! Why do we have to take another test?! We just graduated didn't we?!" Sakura looked towards Sasuke and Naruto in confusion.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted before walking away.

"Sakura-chan, if there is another test the academy exam must have been to filter out those who have potential from those who don't. And also ignore what sensei said about not eating. You NEVER go on a mission without being well nourished, it decreases your performance drastically." Naruto said.

Sakura took in all the information before speaking, "Alright thanks Naruto!" she smiled at him.

"Don't mention it Sakura-chan" he replied happily.

* * *

"WHERE IS HE?! IF THIS BECOMES AN EVERYDAY OCCURRENCE I'M GOING TO FIND HIM AND CASTRATE HIM!" screamed a pissed off Sakura. The resulting thoughts caused by her screaming was plenty to send chills down both Naruto's and Sasuke's spines.

"Um... Sakura-c..." Sakura began glaring holes into Naruto. He sweatdropped before putting his hands up, backing away all the while sputtering, "N-nothing."

Sakura huffed before sitting down against one of the wooden training logs sticking out of the ground.

After a couple of minutes their sensei finally decided to poof into existence right in front of them.

"YOU'RE LATE!" screamed Sakura.

He rubbed the back of his head before opening his mouth to speak... Only to get cut off instantly by Naruto. "Kakashi-sensei, we don't care about your 'excuse', can we just get to the exam so we can get it over with."

Kakashi sighed, 'Straight to the point, no fun.' "Alright then," he then pulled out two bells, "Whoever can grab these two bells passes, the one who can't, fails and gets sent back to the academy." Kakashi was surprised when he earned no reaction from this. "Alright then, ready.., GO!" With that everyone jumped away into trees to observe their opponent. Except Naruto of course...

Kakashi sighed, "Even though Jiraiya-sama and Hokage-sama speak well of you, you still must be pretty dumb to think you can match a veteran Jonin such as myself..."

Naruto then used his pinky to act as if he was cleaning out his ear, "Huh? Did you say something?"Kakashi's eye proceeded to twitch as Naruto continued, "Oh! Hehe you must have said start. Oops! Well it doesn't matter sensei, I know every moment we don't put you on the defensive you're just going to read that stupid book of Jiraiya-teme." Kakashi started to grow aggravated at the insult of such of 'fantastic' literature from a mere child. Naruto knew all too well and decided to make one more push, "Well I'm glad to say that when I was on the trip with ero-sennin he gave me the signed first edition of his newest book which hasn't even reached the stores yet." Naruto then pulled out the book to show him. "Let me show you what I think of it." Naruto then attached an explosive to it and tossed it behind him.

As Kakashi slowly watched it fly backwards and explode into millions of pieces he could only think of one thing. Revenge. He immediately charged forward at Naruto who proceeded to get into a defensive stance. As he was closing in on Naruto several puffs of smoke appeared around him. 'Shit! He was hiding shadow clones as rocks! And all he to do was bait me...' Kakashi then stopped and went on the defensive as the four new clones lunged at him. The closest clone began barraging him with an assortment of brawler like punches and kicks at an intimidating speed. Still dodging the first clone, he barely had time to jump up to avoid the clone behind him attempting to sweep his legs out from under him.

A third clone then burst forth from the ground foot first, rocketing a kick at him. "Uzamaki!" He blocked the kick by crossing his arms but still got launched further up in the air. 'Not good, I severely underestimated him.'

* * *

-Meanwhile with Sasuke-

"Hn." he grunted. 'The dobe is much more talented than I anticipated, but no worries, he can't match up to the might of the Uchiha.'

* * *

-With Sakura-

'Wow! Naruto is almost as good as Sasuke-kun!' she thought.

**'Pfft, whatever he is still no match for my Sasuke-kun!'** screamed Inner-Sakura with hearts in her eyes. Sakura just sighed and continued to observe.

* * *

-Back with Naruto and Kakashi-

As Kakashi continued to fly further off the ground he heard "Naruto!" come from behind him before taking a chakra-filled kick in the back that only sent him further up into the air, his eyes shut in pain. "Rasengan Barrage!" He heard from in front of him now as his eyes burst open to see a Naruto flying down towards him holding two Rasengans in each hand. He knew he had to think quick and performed a few handsigns.

"Rasengan!" Naruto screamed as he slammed them into Kakashi who then rocketed down into the ground stirring debris from his impact. The clones disappeared and Naruto landed to find a log in his sensei's spot. 'Damn he got away, I need to find the others quickly!' he thought before sprinting off.

Kakashi watched Naruto from a distance as he sprinted of into the forest. He then sighed in relief, 'Damn that was close, I might to just need to activate my sharingan to fight him next time.' He considered waiting around for them to show up before deciding otherwise and went off to find the other genin.

* * *

Kakashi was dashing through the trees, closing in on an unsuspecting Sasuke. 'These kids definitely aren't very good sensory types, I'm not even trying to sneak up on him right now.' He then jumped on the next branch landing on wire, and ducked as a few shuriken flew over his head. As he recovered and stood up, a kunai with an explosive tag landed at his feet on the branch he was on. He quickly did a back flip off the branch onto the one behind him as the other branch exploded.

Sasuke then moved out from behind a tree in front of him. "I'm not like the others, I'm different. I'm much stronger!" he said as charged at Kakashi and swung a kick at his head. Kakashi calmly squatted down to avoid it. Sasuke followed up with an uppercut which Kakashi blocked and stood back up. In attempt to free his fist, Sasuke then tried sweeping Kakashi's legs out from underneath them but again his sensei easily avoided it.

'Gah! Why can't I hit him! Jonin can't really be this good can they?!' Sasuke managed to jump away from Kakashi and in mid-flight he tossed two kunai with wire attached to them at each side of Kakashi. He then quickly went through a few hand seals, "Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!" and emitted fire from his mouth up onto the wires the kunai were attached to. Kakashi's eyes widened at this but before he could do anything he was caught on fire by the attack.

Sasuke smirked triumphantly and jumped to the ground as where his sensei now was rolling around in an attempt to extinguish the flames. As he went to reach for the bells that were now beside his sensei, both the bells and his sensei vanished in a puff of smoke. 'Shit!' he jumped back up onto a branch and pulled a kunai out in preparation.

* * *

Naruto was jumping through the forest, in an attempt to find Sakura. While in the midst of it he started to sense the engagement between Kakashi and Sasuke. He contemplated going in for a surprise attack but immediately threw out the idea and opted for finding Sakura and forming a plan.

Eventually he did indeed find her hiding in a bush, and jumped down behind her although she didn't seem to notice. "Sakura-chan" he spoke up. She jumped and got a kunai out and swung at the person behind her only for him to catch her arm before the kunai could hit anything.

"Dammit Naruto! You scared the hell out of me! What do you want?!" she said relatively pissed.

"I know the objective of this test." he said and that got her to calm down and listen in. "Alright the point of it is to test our teamwork. Think about it, a genin should never be able to take on a Jonin on there own, that's just insanity. So instead he's trying to separate us to see if we're a smart enough of a team to help each other out and capture the objective together. Besides have you ever seen a three person squad?"

She pondered his reasoning for a second. "Well what about there only being two bells?" she asked.

"If your worried about that and can't trust me when I say that they don't matter then you and Sasuke can have them." he replied.

"So your willing to take the chance of getting sent back to the academy?" she said with concern.

"Of course, if I'm right though then that won't happen. It's a risk I'm willing to take. Anyways I've got a plan, and the only way it will work is if we catch Kakashi while he's still fighting Sasuke so listen up." Naruto then whispers into her ear the plan before he takes off with her following him. After a minute they find Sasuke defending against Kakashi, he was throwing punches and kicks at him which he knew Sasuke could barely block.

Naruto turned to Sakura and nodded before she jumped out and threw a shuriken at Kakashi who noticed it and jumped back. On his flight back she then threw a kunai with an explosive tag at the branch he was about to land on. Quickly thinking Kakashi threw a kunai with a wire attached to it at a branch above and to avoid the impending explosion. While this happened Naruto landed beside Sasuke and looked at him. "Sasuke can you use some sort of fire jutsu on sensei?"

Sasuke, although irritated by the request, decided not to argue and went through the hand seals, "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" creating a large fireball about four times the size of himself. Naruto wasting no time went through a few hand seals of his own and spoke, "Wind Release: Air Burst" shooting a large volley of air that collided with the fireball, increasing it's size greatly while also boosting the speed at which it approached Kakashi who was now standing on the branch he had been hanging from.

Seeing that he could not dodge the fireball, Kakashi quickly decided to counter with a technique of his own and created a shadow clone. They both went through hand seals and spoke, "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough" and shot their own buffed fireball countering the other fireball in a large explosion.

Before Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura could do anything else Kakashi raised his hand for them to stop. "Time is up" he spoke, painting slightly. "Meet me back at the middle of the training ground." he then Body Flickered away.

Naruto sighed and turned to the other two, "Well let's go see what's going to happen." He half believed that they were actually going to fail.

As they arrived at the meeting place they all stood in front of their sensei who was looking at them in disappointment. "You guys failed to get the bells from me..." he said darkly. "You... Pass." He said with an eye smile. Sakura looked up in confusion while Sasuke hid his and Naruto just smirked. "Although you started off a little shaky, you managed to work as a team in the end and nearly had me. Remember this, in the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash. Now if you'll excuse me I have to report to Hokage-sama, you guys have the rest of the day off. Report here first thing tomorrow morning." he said before leaving.

"Sooo... You guys want to go get some lunch?" asked Sakura.

Sasuke only grunted and began to walk away. "Come on Sasuke! Just this once, hell I'll pay for all of us if you come along." Naruto said in attempt to tempt him.

Sasuke grunted again but this time he stopped and looked at them. "Fine, but no ramen." He continued to walk away before the other two joined him. Naruto with a victorious smile plastered on his face while Sakura was nearly squealing because Sasuke was finally opening up to them a little.

* * *

-The Next Day-

Naruto was walking towards the Hokage's tower having just finished their first day of training. Of course that wasn't what is mind was thinking about. No he was thinking about how this might finally be it. He may just finally get to learn about his parents. He walked in and up the stairs to the Hokage's office. He stopped at the doors, took a deep breath and knocked on it.

"Enter!" spoke a voice from inside.

The Hokage looked up and saw Naruto enter the room, he had been waiting on him to come back. "Ah, Naruto I see your back. I'm just going to cut to the chase and assume your here to see if I'll tell you about your parents." Naruto just nodded in response. "Well I observed you and must admit you did exceptionally well, although I know you could have done better from what the report Jiraiya gave me said."

"I had to hold back so that my team could work together and pass, after all that was the objective of the training. If I defeated him on my own then that really wouldn't be much teamwork would it?" he replied.

The Hokage sighed, "Alright I'll make you one last deal. I'll tell you everything about your parents, just promise me you'll try to keep a secret until you grow stronger. Your not at the level I wanted you to be but this is really starting to age me more than I want it to."

Naruto, although a little frustrated, just nodded in agreement. "Good" the Hokage said. "Now don't say anything until I've finished please, I need to get everything out before you start assuming things, alright?" Naruto again nodded. "Alright, your mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki. As you know she was the previous jinchuuriki of the Kyubi until your birth where she was killed during the Kyubi's attack. Along with that, she was also a member of the Uzumaki clan, which were from the Uzushiokagure and where she was born. At a young age she was enrolled into the academy and would eventually take the burden of jinchuuriki from Mito Uzumaki, the Shodaime's wife." Naruto had a look of disgust from this.

"Naruto, before the Kyubi attacked, no one really cared about anyone being a jinchuuriki here. Besides that, few people were actually even aware of your mother's status as such. Now, moving on... Your father..." Naruto looked up once more, awaiting the answer with pure curiosity. Hiruzen sighed. "Naruto, your father was one of the most important men to this village during his time. He was feared by many other villages and was in the bingo book with a "Flee on Sight" order stamped in it." Naruto looked on amazed. He couldn't wait to finally here his name so he inched forwards in anticipation.

Seeing this Hiruzen sighed once, 'Here it goes...' "Your father was known as Konoha's Yellow Flash," he saw Naruto beginning to understand who it was, "or more commonly referred to as the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze."

Naruto just sat there stunned, he didn't know how to respond. Naruto then stared down at the floor, looking for an answer in the cracks and crevices. He felt as if his heart had just been dealt a devastating blow and tears began to fall from his eyes. "Why..." he said with a pained and unsteady voice. Hiruzen remained silent, carefully considering his next words. "WHY!?" Naruto screamed at him this time, still crying deeply in pain.

The old and tired Hokage just gazed into his surrogate grandsons pain filled eyes, he knew he couldn't lie. "He did it to protect the village Naruto, he felt as though he didn't want to put the burden on someone else's child. Think about how people always treated you. Would you want someone to have to suffer that same fate as you have had to?" Naruto remained quiet. "Naruto he not only sealed the Kyubi inside you for that reason. He believed like any good parent would, that you had the potential to surpass him and gain control of the Kyubi's powers!"

Naruto looked up in shock. "R-really?" he said in almost disbelief. "Did they... Did they love me?" he asked hesitantly.

"More than the whole world. You should have seen how excited Minato was when he discovered Kushina was pregnant with you. I swear he was hopping around the office as much as you do when I offer to take you out for ramen." he said smiling warmly.

Naruto smiled back. "Thank you, Hokage-sama." He couldn't believe it, his parents didn't abandon him nor did they hate him! No in fact, his parents were his heroes, and not only that they believed in him.

He then looked up at Hiruzen but didn't know what else to say. Seeing this, the man spoke up, "How about we go to Ichiraku's, my treat?" he offered.

"Sure thing, old man." Naruto replied happily.

* * *

Aaand that's the end of the Introduction Arc! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it was about 5000 words and I had to plan and correct so many things to make it worthy enough to be published. As always please give me feedback if you will as it helps me! Anyways I've got a lot planned for the next arc of this story and it's going to be brand new, non-canon material.

New Jutsu:

Rasengan - A-Rank: A short-ranged technique where the user rotates a large amount of chakra in their hand using perfect chakra shape transformation.

Wind Release: Air Burst - C-Rank: A jutsu where the user shoots a large volley of air from his mouth. On contact with it's target, it can knock them several hundred feet if unprepared. It also can do substantial damage depending on the distance they are launched.

Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique - C-Rank: A large amount of fire that is shot from the mouth and can either form a massive org or large continuous flame.

Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique - C-Rank: The user breathes fire along ninja wire, which caries the fire across it at lightning fast speeds. It catches those who make contact with on fire and typically targets the upper body.

Ninja Stats: 16 Point Scale

Naruto Uzamaki: Genin.

Age: 12

Speed: 8.5

Stealth: 8

Stamina: 13.5

Strength: 8.5

Chakra Reserves: 13.5

Chakra Control: 5.5

Intelligence: 7.5

Taijutsu: 8

Ninjutsu: 10.5

Genjutsu: 1

Fuinjutsu: 3

Kenjutsu: 4.5

Sakura Haruno: Genin.

Age: 12

Speed: 4.5

Stealth: 4

Stamina: 6

Strength: 6.5

Chakra Reserves: 6.5

Chakra Control: 12.5

Intelligence: 8.5

Taijutsu: 5.5

Ninjutsu: 3.5

Genjutsu: 6.5

Sasuke Uchiha: Genin.

Age: 12

Speed: 7

Stealth: 6.5

Stamina: 9.5

Strength: 8.5

Chakra Reserves: 9

Chakra Control: 8.5

Intelligence: 8.5

Taijutsu: 7.5

Ninjutsu: 9.5

Genjutsu: 2.5

-A/N: Remember Sasuke hasn't unlocked his Sharingan yet!

Kakashi Hatake: Jonin.

Age: 26

Speed: 11

Stealth: 10

Stamina: 9

Strength: 11.5

Chakra Reserves: 8

Chakra Control: 13.5

Intelligence: 14.5

Taijutsu: 10

Ninjutsu: 12

Genjutsu: 8

Fuinjutsu: 4.5

Kenjutsu: 6

Anyways I will hopefully have the next chapter out in the next couple days! Until then!


	5. Chapter 5 - Fire on the Horizon

I would like to apologize about the wait, I lost motivation to write for a while and I also was very busy for a significant portion of the past month. I will try to update as much as I can in the time I have but I can't really say how often it will be. Anyways here is Chapter 5 and the beginning of the new Arc.

XxAshishxX, Thanks! Of course I will make Sakura, I think in canon she is severely under-powered.

Guest, Good point, so I'll correct myself. Sasuke has learned that he has unlocked that Sharingan yet.

DfangOO, Don't worry, I hate the obsession thing Sakura has over Sasuke, but I'm trying to remain realistic. Don't worry though, you'll start to seem some progression away from her liking Sasuke real soon. ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

Key:

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Tailed Beasts/Inner-Sakura Talking"**

**'Tailed Beasts/Inner-Sakura Thinking'**

_Flashbacks_

Enjoy!

* * *

**Ash Arc: Chapter 5 - Fire on the Horizon**

(Two Week Timeskip)

"I honestly think there isn't anything underneath." said Sasuke, who was holding a shovel and covered in dirt.

"Well we'll never truly know until we see for ourselves. Alright so what could we do?" replied Naruto, who had a hoe for his weapon of choice and was also covered in dirt.

"Well what about us all going out to eat?" Sakura suggested, who had a basket of seeds on her right arm and dirt covering her left.

"Alright, we'll invite him to Ichiraku's!" Naruto said.

"Sasuke! Naruto! Sakura! Get back to work!" yelled Kakashi, halting any of the other two genins debate against the idea of going to get ramen.

They just looked at each other before shrugging and getting back to work. 'D-Ranks... Did I seriously go on a four year training trip just to be planting seeds, getting peoples groceries and chasing after an annoying loose cat.' He shuddered at the last of the three. "Damn Tora." he muttered.

They worked on for a couple more hours until they had finally accomplished the task and headed back to the Hokage to turn in the mission and get their minuscule pay. As they exited the office, they all turned to look at their sensei. As they opened their mouths to say something though, he just waved an 'innocent' eye smile and left.

"Damn it! I swear he's on to us!" Naruto complained.

"Well maybe if you keep your voice down then he might not be able to hear every word your saying." suggested Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto! Cut it out! I swear all you two ever do is argue and it always gives me a headache. We'll have plenty of opportunities to see what he's hiding under that damn mask later! But for now please spare my head the pain before I punch the both of you over the Hokage monument!" Sakura finished, nearly steaming in rage.

Meanwhile Naruto and Sasuke were looking at each other in astonishment and a slight amount of fear. She never threatened Sasuke, it was... weird. The just kept staring at her until she gave them a look to let the subject go. She then marched away.

"Uhm... yeah, scary" Naruto said.

"Hn. Of course you'd be scared, dobe." Sasuke said, trying to avoid that he was anything of the sort. Naruto just sighed and decided that arguing while Sakura is still potentially near was a bad thing and let it go. He said a short goodbye to Sasuke and went home.

* * *

Naruto arrived early at the training grounds as he always did. He then began doing his warm up laps around the grounds. While he was in the middle of it, Sakura also arrived earlier than usual.

'Hopefully Naruto or Sasuke aren't here, I really want to get out the anger from yesterday. Apparently smashing my door to pieces when I slammed it wasn't enough. Hey, if they are here then one of them can be my punching.' she smiled darkly. Oh poor Naruto...

Naruto finished his tenth lap when Sakura emerged from the forest into the clearing with a slightly sadistic looking smile on her face. He had been hoping she'd gotten over the events of late yesterday. Unfortunately she had not and to make things worse Sasuke wasn't here to take part of the beating she would most likely be giving.

"Oh Naruto-kun!" She sad with a way to friendly tone.

Naruto turned his face to her and quickly covered up his fear with a smile. "Yes oh so sweet and kind Sakura-chan?" he managed to say without stuttering.

"Do you want to spar with me for a warm up?" she asked, still using the same tone.

Naruto gulped, "I mean I was going to do some chakra control training but sure." he said still trying to keep his fear hidden.

"Good! Now if you'll excuse me for a minute." Sakura walked over to a tree across the clearing and set down a basket she had been holding. After that she quickly jumped into the tree and threw a now previously hiding Sasuke out of it.

Naruto smiled happily at this. He wasn't going to take the wrath of her alone. He watched on as Sakura began invoking that wrath upon the Uchiha spy.

* * *

Kakashi body flickered into the training grounds but he didn't expect to find two of his three genin brutally beaten while the third was smiling happily as if nothing had happened. He sighed, "Alright, what happened."

Sakura, looked at both of them while still holding her smile. Naruto spoke up, "Hehe well ya see" he started while rubbing the back of his head, "Me and Sasuke just went a little far in a spar." Sasuke immediately agreed. Kakashi decided to ignore it and continue on.

"Alright, well then let's start training. Naruto, I heard from Master Jiraiya that you've been taught about nature transformation." Naruto nodded. "Alright, well I want you to train Sakura on her affinity. Here is a piece of chakra paper so you can figure out what her affinity is." Kakashi then gave him a the paper.

"Sasuke, I'm going to do the same for you." Kakashi said.

"Why doesn't Naruto have to train?" Sakura asked.

"Because he is already training in a way only he could manage due to his extremely high chakra reserves." Kakashi said with a smile.

* * *

-At Another Practice Field-

All across the open field, Naruto clones were scattered trying to cut leaves with their chakra and in the middle stood a commanding Naruto clone along with a Kakashi clone. "I can't believe I never noticed the memories from the clones..." spoke the commanding Naruto clone. "I mean now that I think of it, I even remember gaining those memories." He said, shaking his head at his own stupidity.

The Kakashi clone just chuckled, "Maybe if you read more or listened to the Hokage when he taught the jutsu to you this wouldn't have happened."

The Naruto clone with stars in his eyes was currently ignoring him before finally blurting out his thoughts. "I can finally begin training using this! I'll be able to surpass Hokage-sama in no time! I'll do this everyday, for as long as I can! Yes, finally I can be recognized for my tru"

"Naruto I hate to break it to you but we'll be taking many more missions soon, and we really won't have that much time train." the Kakashi clone said, cutting off Naruto.

The Naruto clone's head sunk, "You just have to crush all my hopes and dreams don't you Kakashi sensei..."

"Of course! It's part of my revenge for you blowing up a piece of important literature." Kakashi responded with a slightly evil eye smile.

'I'm never going to get a break, am I?' the clone said.

* * *

-With Naruto and Sakura

"Alright Sakura-chan, how much do you know about nature transformation?" asked Naruto

"The academy basics." she responded and Naruto sighed.

"Alright, take this piece of chakra paper and put a little bit of your chakra into it. I'll tell you what affinity you have." Sakura put a small amount of chakra into the paper as instructed and witnessed as it became moist. "I'm assuming you can guess which affinity you have." he spoke.

"I'd say it's probably water. You know Naruto, when your more serious about something it's a lot easier to tolerate your presence." she said.

Naruto nearly face planted into the ground at that. 'Am I really that bad? Maybe Jiraiya-sensei was right, I need to act more serious.' He sighed and continued. "Hehe, well moving on from that comment, let's began on your water transformation. Even with your great chakra control, you won't be able to immediately perform water based jutsu. In order to be able to utilize it correctly, your going to have to be able to make your chakra act as if it's water." Sakura looked a little confused.

"Here I'll show you an example." Naruto stood back from Sakura and performed a couple handseals and wind began to form around his palm. "Observe this jutsu and tell me what's so special about that chakra having the wind transformation in it in comparison to it being just chakra."

"It seems to cut through the air more and rotate at a very fast rate." she said studying it.

"Correct, when I was improving my wind transformation, I had to train myself to be able to make my chakra sharp." he explained.

"So what do I do for my water transformation?"

"Think about how water behaves, how it can flow through almost any crevice and can go from being calm to rapid depending on the situation. Those define how your transformation behaves." lectured Naruto. "Now in order to train this, I want you use rocks and leaves and channel your chakra into while trying to make your chakra behave like water does." Sakura nodded, then found a rock and got to work.

Naruto observed her as she scrunched her face in focus. Moments later the rock exploded, and she growled in frustration. "What happened? Did I put too much chakra into it?"

Naruto chuckled before nodding his head, "You put way to much into it. Think about it, the more chakra you force into a tight space such as a crevice in a rock, the more pressure there is inside that rock. You need to moderate your chakra while being able to transform the chakra and make it flow through the rock."

Sakura nodded her head in understanding before going back to work with a renewed determination. 'I will do this, I need to get stronger.' she thought.

After four hours of continuous frustration and lecturing Sakura nearly had it. Naruto was observing also, as he has been doing. 'Her face is so cute when she is concentrating' he thought as he looked her again scrunched up face.

"I GOT IT!" she yelled breaking Naruto out of his thoughts and sending tumbling back in surprise at the random outburst. Sakura looked at Naruto in slight confusion, "Naruto, are you alright?" Naruto just nodded his head. "So am I already done with transformations?" Sakura asked with hope filled eyes.

"Unfortunately not." Naruto said, causing Sakura to sigh in annoyance. "Hey you should be happy you completed in the time you did. It took me nearly 3 weeks to do it on my own." At that Sakura smiled triumphantly. "I think that's all for today Sakura-chan. Let's head back to the middle of training ground and wait for Kakashi-sensei."

"Alright. Sooo Naruto, how exactly are you training if you were helping me the whole time?" Sakura asked as they began to walk back.

Naruto scratched the back of his while smiling, "Hehe, a shinobi never reveals his secrets." Naruto replied. Sakura just stuck her tongue out at him in return.

As they arrived at the middle of the training ground, they find that Kakashi and Sasuke had just arrived back as well. "Yo." Spoke Kakashi. "How did it go?" he asked while winking at Naruto with his head turned enough so Sakura couldn't see it... Or so he thought.

"PERVERTS!" screamed Sakura as she picked Naruto up like a club and proceeded to hit Kakashi over the head with him.

"SA-KU-RA-CHAN!" Naruto screamed in between hits. She stopped and dropped Naruto who then began to whine, "What did I do to deserve that? I probably suffered more than Kakashi!"

"I saw the slight smile you had right after he asked... You deserved it." she said crossing her arms.

Kakashi crawled up from his whac-a-mole hole in the ground and sighed. "Well with that let's call it a day. Meet in front of the Hokage Tower tomorrow morning at 8 for a new mission." he then body flickered away.

"Damn he keeps getting away before I can ask for us to all go get something to eat..." Naruto said. "I just really want to know whats underneath that mask, is that too much to ask for?" he asked with fake tears running down his cheeks. He turned around and saw that Sakura and Sasuke had walked away. Naruto sweatdropped, 'Fantastic team, I know who to go to if I'm ever in need of help...' he thought before heading home.

* * *

Naruto arrived in front of the Hokage Tower to find his teammates already there along with his sensei. He began to great them before quickly doing a double take at the fact there sensei was already there and none the less before him. "Wh-what's going on?" he questioned in disbelief.

Sakura broke out into a fit of laughter while Sasuke smirked as Kakashi face faulted at the fact that they had all reacted as such when they saw him. "I'm sorry I'm usually to kind to help the elderly and confused animals." he said.

Naruto sighed, "Really, we're back to these excuses again? Can we just get on with the mission."

Kakashi sweatdropped, 'What does he have against my excuses?! There just intended to lighten the mood...' Kakashi let the thought go and decided to get serious, "Alright, let's get another mission."

They then entered the building and entered the Hokage's office when told to do so. As Naruto looked around the office, he noticed Iruka at a separate desk with missions. "Hey Iruka-sensei!"

"Naruto, normally I'd chat with you but your interrupting the Hokage from his paper work." spoke Iruka.

The hokage grunted, 'I hate paper work. Any distraction from it is a good distraction.' He then decided to speak up, "So are you here for another mission Kakashi?" He got a nod for confirmation. "Alright then, Iruka what D-Ranks do we have today?"

Before Iruka could even begin looking Naruto intervened, "Hokage-sama, with all due respect I think we are more than capable of handling a C-Ranked mission and would like to request one instead of a D-Rank." Everyone looked at Naruto as if he had a third head. While it happened every once and while, Naruto would behave himself and not be the usually obnoxious and loud ninja he is.

The Hokage looked at Kakashi for confirmation that he agreed to it. Kakashi eye smiled, "I think they are more than prepared to take on a C-Rank mission." At this Naruto smiled triumphantly, while Sakura nervously smirked. Sasuke on the other hand remained neutral in appearance but his thoughts were different. 'I finally get to put my skills to the test.'

Instead of resisting to the idea like he normally would have, Iruka handed the Hokage a C-Rank as he was still in a slight amount of shock. The Hokage looked over the C-Rank before approving of it and gave the folder to Kakashi. "You're dismissed." he spoke and they left.

"So what's our mission Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura once she got outside.

"I'll inform you on our way, for now go and grab any supplies you need. There's the possibility that we may be away for a week or two. Meet at the front gates in an hour." he said before leaving in his usual puff of smoke.

* * *

"Seems like sensei is back to normal." said Naruto as he stood there with his two teammates. Sakura sighed in agreement while Sasuke grunted once more.

They waited for thirty more minutes before their sensei finally showed up. He began to open his mouth to make an excuse but noticed the glare Naruto was sending him and decided against it. "Well let's get going." he said and they exited Konoha.

After they were a good distance away from Konoha, Naruto spoke up this time, "So can we know what that mission is now Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi nodded and spoke, "We are heading to the prominent farming village, Hitotsubu, which is within the Land of Fire, to investigate the burning of many farms and buildings. The vandals are suspected to be bandits due to the large amount of bandit activity that has been reported around the village. I'd say if this is just bandits as they've mentioned then there are going to be at least a couple hundred of them divided up into several camps in order to cover the entire radius of the village's farm area. We are expected to be there in no later than two days."

"Hn, this will be over in no time." said Sasuke.

Sakura on the other hand wasn't so confident and Naruto noticed. "Well just in case the threat is worst than we think let's be prepared. We should formulate a good strategy to anticipate most possible situations we could face while we're there. If we do that, I know our chances of success will increase drastically." He then looked at Sakura and gave her a reassuring smile. She couldn't help but smile back at him.

Kakashi noticed this exchange along with Sakura's initial reaction and decided to state his opinion as well, "I think that is an excellent idea Naruto. We'll get to that when we make camp this evening."

'Thank you... Naruto.' thought Sakura with a large feeling of relief.

* * *

(6 Hours Later - Midday)

"So... Kakashi-sensei, what is this village like?" asked Naruto who had finally had enough of the somewhat awkward silence.

"It's a large village that is the center of trade of agricultural goods in the northern sector of the Land of Fire. It's never been a large target for any sort of operations before but that is probably also the reason it's in its current situation. They've never needed a significant military presence before, therefore with their lack of such it has finally led to a large increase in crime." Kakashi stated in hopes that Naruto truly understood the gravity of the situation going on there.

'So not only is it important to defend due to it being trade node for important products, there's more than likely a significant amount more of bandits then we've been informed of. Hell there are probably even shinobi here. Unfortunately if this is the case then we are doing at least a low A-ranked mission but until we know this is true we can't request backup.' Naruto pondered.

He then looked up and saw a odd gleam in the tree and immediately grew suspicious. Though his expression didn't change, he looked over to Kakashi and made eye contact confirming that he had saw it too. He then discreetly took in his surroundings and prepared for what was to come. Unfortunately Sasuke had other things in mind.

"I know your there, come out and stop cowering in the shadows!" yelled Sasuke. Kakashi just shook his head while Naruto cursed silently before getting beside Sakura.

He spoke to her in a whisper. "Sakura. I'll take any offenders on, I need you to provide support in any means you can, alright?" She nodded in understanding. Eight figures then dashed out from different directions in attempt to put pressure on them. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, creating five clones. Three stayed with Naruto and Sakura while the other two split off towards Sasuke and Kakashi. Naruto then engaged the approaching aggressor by throwing three kunai in a spread formation. The man was thrown off by having to avoid the attack and Naruto was quickly on top of him throwing multiple punches and kicks putting the man on the defensive.

Meanwhile the other three clones had engaged the other three who had tried to attack Naruto and Sakura. Being that they were clones Sakura knew that they'd only be able to hold out for so long. Formulating a plan in her head she threw a kunai with an explosive tag behind the opponent one of the clones was facing causing the man to move in order to avoid the impending explosion. While both the man and clone were recovering she then went through a few handseals. "Water Release: Pressurized Current!" she then spit a relatively large amount of water out of her mouth that shot towards the man, throwing him off his feet and tumbling to the ground where the clone then knocked him out and tied him up, 'One down' thought Sakura.

The now free clone then went and got behind another opponent fighting a clone, catching him off guard and swept his feet from beneath him before putting a kunai to his throat and making him surrender.

Kakashi was currently fighting the toughest of the bunch, a large burly man wielding a battleaxe. The man was keeping him on his feet with his brute swings at a impressively fast speed. But seeing that his genin were beginning to finish up their fights he decided to end the annoyance of constantly dodging and jumped high into the air while performing several handseals. "Wind Release: Disorientation" before clapping his hand together to create a high velocity wind current that through the mans senses off. As he descended towards the ground he then delivered a hard kick to the mans face sending the man to a painful collapse on the ground.

As he finished tying up his opponent he noticed the others had just finished as well. Sasuke looked to be fatigued but that quickly be explained by the scorch marks around where he had fought and also the burn that were on his opponents.

Meanwhile in a tree overlooking the scene a shadowy figure chuckles to himself. 'This will make things interesting indeed. You've grown up little Hatake, I can't wait for whats to come.' he thought with an devious smirk before jumping away in the opposite direction.

* * *

'Ugh, my head... What happened?' the man thought as his eyes slowly opened to reveal a blonde with a less than satisfied expression on his face. The man growled lowly before remembering the previous events and realized his situation.

"For the sake of your life you better be reasonable." said the blonde in a cold tone. He only received a glare back at the man. "Oh well, I guess that's how it's going to be." he paused before his expression switched to a maniacal grin. "Now I get to enjoy torturing you." He then pulled out a blank explosive tag and crouched next to the man, focused a red chakra into the tag and placed it on to the man. "Have fun. Oh and when you decide you want to participate, just holler. After all, with all the screaming I bet you'll be doing, everyone will hear you." he said darkly before he began walking away.

The man was then pulled into his mind and began to immediately feel an extremely malicious presence before hearing deep, murderous laugh that resonated through his mind. "Sooo... The brat finally allows me a tool for my amusement." A large fox with nine tails then revealed itself from the shadows and looked straight into the man with his red, slitted and bloodshot eyes. The man had never felt such fear in his life and all who heard his screams couldn't even begin to imagine what torture he had to endure.

After what seemed to be an eternity of torture the man was finally brought back to the real world with the same blonde standing in front of him again. "PLEEEEASSEE! DON'T MAKE ME GO BACK! I'LL TELL YOU ANYTHING YOU WISH TO KNOW! Just don't send me back there..." he said as he began to cry in fear.

After finally gaining information from the terrified man, the team called for a group to come pickup the bandits before heading to the location that the man told them about. They arrived to find a large, bustling camp filled with around a hundred armed bandits. "This must be one of the camps they were talking about." said Naruto. "I say we formulate a plan and take out this camp before we go to the village or find the other camps they told us about."

Kakashi pondered on the idea for a second before looking at the others for their opinions. Sasuke had a slight cocky look to him and nodded while Sakura nodded with a slight hesitance. Kakashi sighed, "I guess that'll work. But we need to make quick work, we have a limited amount of time to get to the village and we'll have to hurry to get there if we go through with this. Do you guys understand?" they all nodded.

* * *

End of Chapter 5

It's extremely late as I publish this and I'll add in the jutsu statistics and anything else that I see needs to be added. Again sorry for the EXTREMELY late update and hopefully I can get the next chapter out soon!

Until then!


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